The Ordeal
by Sir.Purple
Summary: Aidan, a new wizard, goes on his Ordeal. Nita, Kit and Dairine are soon pulled into the story. Who is Aidan, and why does he hold such great importance to the Lone One, and is he possibly the key to His reign over Life?
1. Orkos

The Ordeal

Part One: Orkos

The young boy sat down on his bed, the house emptied of all but his small dog, who was roaming somewhere in the house. He was sixteen, with brown hair that was slightly curly, built well and with hazel eyes. Aidan looked at the book in his hand thoughtfully, considering its contents. It looked brand new, with a glossy finish over the brown cover, which read, "So You Want to Be a Wizard?" It had been on the clearance rack and looked interesting enough at the large bookstore he had been at. Yet, he could not shake the feeling that this book held purpose, and had a greater depth and meaning to it than he would ever understand.

And so he bought it. Now that his parents were out shopping, running errands and whatever else it was they did, Aidan opened the book with nothing else to do on the sunny, warm summer's day. Aidan flipped the book open. Amidst warning of wizards, the affects and effects it had on animals, eyes, trees, and so forth, he read the Wizard's Oath, which the manual had opened to nearly instantly.

It seemed to jump open to the page, with earnestness, as though it was alive. Surprised, Aidan shook the feelings away. He looked over the words, in plain block text, in the middle of the page. Nothing special about the page indicted it was, in fact, something special. With the top spelling "Wizard's Oath" in larger letters, he read.

In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; nor will I change any creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will ever put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is fit to do so – looking always toward the Heart of Time, where all sundered times are one and all our myriad worlds lie whole, in that from which they proceeded…

As he read, his excitement built. Ever since he was young, he had wanted to be part of magic. The books he read, the movies he watched, all had the flair and excitement that somewhere, at one time or another, there were great battles being fought with magic and might. His parents simply called it an over excessive imagination, and maybe they were right. Nonetheless, his dreams never faltered in the face of their opposition, as he would one day hope to be a wizard. And this seemed legit. Who would want to write a book on being a wizard if it's not real? And to add to Aidan's thought that this could be real, the book was very large.

And, and then… nothing. Aidan searched for something, anything to be different. The birds still chirped, the sun still shined, and he felt no different. He waited, slowly, waiting to see a change. Yet a feeling, a gut feeling in his stomach, in his soul, that told him something was different. But he couldn't tell, as far as anything, that anything had changed. His excitement quickly turned to dismay as he began to look back on what he had just done, thinking it real, and hoping for something beyond the life which he now lead.

Doubt quickly poured into his mind. For as long as he could recall, magic was real, waiting to be discovered somewhere. Why not a bookstore? This book, which seemingly caught his hand, that contained, as far as he could tell, great power, was going to hopefully change him into his dream. _Idiot._ Aidan thought, laughing at himself in embarrassment. _I should have known, this was too easy._

After a sigh, he resigned himself to simply turning to the first part of the now normal book, with simply an imaginative author. Preface, it read, and hungrily he began to read. It may not be real, but it was still a book. An original, interesting one at that.

WIZARDS Populate the Universe, to slow the entropy, or death, that the Lone One wove into the fabric of the universe (for more information on the topic of entropy and the lone one, please refer to 'creation and entropy').

Wizardry is something not to be taken lightly. Wizardry is offered to one by the powers that be, the creators of the universe (more information can be found on the powers: roles in creation, life, and wizardry).

Please turn the page for characteristics found in many potential wizards. Please note, however, one does not necessarily need to meet most of the requirements or characteristics to possess the skills of wizardry. In fact, some of the greatest, most famous of these were people who possessed very few of the characteristics found here. It is simply a broad generalization of a common theme found in the universal population of the wizarding community.

He turned the page, inquiring what the characteristics were, what his criteria was. As he read, a smile soon grew on his face. Good reader… that was first, and among many other criteria, reading seemed to be most important. To him, at least it was. After reading, on the other side of the page, it was a warning to all potential wizards. A warning of the dangers wizardry possessed, how you could die. Of an ordeal, of random interspatial fluctuations, and of a hundred different ways that one could become injured, hurt or killed. Some of these were actually rather humorous.

One could go missing, for instance, from a quantum terraspatial bubble in which, during a teleportation spell, one appears inside the core of a star rather than at the desired location. Or, if the Powers that Be demand repayment from a massive spell or mistake, it usually ended in the death of oneself. _Well… perhaps not all these are so funny_, he thought turning the page warily. His smile which he had worn was slowly fading.

_If this is real… and that oath is binding… why didn't I read any of this before? I always jump the gun and do stupid things!_ And, with a nervous slowness Aidan turned the page and found it titled, 'What Wizards Do: Benefits'. _Even if this isn't real, it is still giving me the creeps. The author takes it seriously enough… _

Here, he read, and was caught absolutely off guard as to what he found. Have a conversation with a star, a cup of tea with a tree; listen to the rocks, travel galaxies, planets, worlds. All this was available to a wizard, things he had never imagined, things and ideas which, to him, blew his mind. He was not familiar with this kind of wizardry. He turned the page.

In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; nor will I change any creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will ever put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is fit to do so – looking always toward the Heart of Time, where all sundered times are one and all our myriad worlds lie whole, in that from which they proceeded…

He read it a second time with growing excitement and enthusiasm that this, this was real. And by taking this Oath, he would make a difference. When he finished reading it aloud for the second time, a strange silence fell, and yet nothing happened when finished. And even if nothing happened, he was content. After reading through the preface, he felt the Oath carried a meaning behind it that he previously hadn't understood. This time, he wanted it to be real. He felt it was real, and not just from some author's overactive imagination in writing a large book on wizardry. There was something more to it, something more…

Loudly, startling Aidan as he sat on his neatly made bed while pouting slightly with the fact that all was the same yet again, his parents walked inside carrying with them the smell of the local Chinese restaurant's food that wafted up the steps into his room. "Aidan, dinner!" came his mother's voice with the clinking of silverware being laid out. "Coming!" Aidan called back, realizing that he had forgotten to eat lunch and feeling his stomach grumble noisily. He set the book down neatly on his dresser, which sat next to his bed, and stood, stretched, and walked downstairs to eat the delicious meal which awaited him.

Later, after the dishes had been finished and the Sun had set, Aidan stumbled up to his room, his hair wet from the shower he had just taken, and put his pajamas on. He got into his bed, picked up his new book and hungrily, like a child starved of food, began to read from where he left off. He made no notice on the fact that the small book had expanded in size. _This… is really cool. Even if… even if it not real, _he thought.

Slowly, as he read and the hours fled by, he drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep. The book lay on top of his chest, oscillating up and down with the heaves of breathing. Of life. The book seemed to shake with excitement, and Aidan fell into the darkness of sleep, not knowing how different his life truly was now.


	2. Oneiros

Part Two: Oneiros

Darkness. Simply darkness. Never before had he ever seen darkness so complete, so pure, so… dark. Aidan never thought lack of light, as a color, could infiltrate into his inner being. And yet, this absolute blackness seemed to resonate within his mind, his soul. Light did not exist. No stars gave off even the faintest glimmer, and he could feel nothing. Perhaps that was what unnerved him, the nothingness of this place. If it was a place, for that matter.

Yet, after moments of standing, sitting, or floating in the nothingness, Aidan began to realize what it was that unnerved him so greatly. It seemed to exude a small sound, or feeling or some form of identifiable unnervingness that vibrated core of his being. It was malicious. It was evil. It was nameless, colorless, lightless, nothingness.

From the everlasting dark, a rumbling sounded, cold and cruel. This rumbling, like thunder, was subdued and hard to hear, where Aidan strained his ears to catch what this was, if it was real or if he was imagining it. The sound escalated, however, and soon a malicious laughter shook through Aidan. And then, a speck of light in the distance. A star? Slowly it grew, larger and larger. Or was Aidan moving? He couldn't tell, as no air was moving past him. Was he even breathing?

And then he burst through the light into a field of stars, the Milky Way Galaxy. Blue, red, yellow, orange, new, old and in between, the stars swirled together in the galaxy making it beautiful, giving it life. They whipped past him as he moved quicker, quicker than light, towards the center of the galaxy. Past him, whispering unintelligibly in his mind, stars talked nervously about something. SomeOne. Their heat never touching him and their gravity never flexing the muscles it so possessed.

Planets, rocks, and the occasional space shuttle passed him by as he flew past. Then, the center. A super massive black hole eating everything that came into its ferocious gravitational pull, a well of blackness that reminded Aidan of the horrific place he had just been. Bright streams of light were ejected from the darkness as radiation that should have normally vaporized his body simply moved through it.

The laughter rose to a fever pitch, freezing Aidan in thought as he admired the beauty of the stars, galaxy and the light. Fear gripped his soul. The laugh was old and ancient sounding, and then the black hole lit up. Not with light, but darkness. The stars flickered, being sucked into the relentless hold of the black hole. Dying. Soon blackness spread, destroying anything that came within reach of the "Star-Eater." Aidan's mind screamed as the voices of the stars reached his ears.

And then Aidan was surrounded by blackness, yet again. Pure emptiness. Yet, there was also a hum of energy to this nothingness, as though movement and life could be found, if only there were a way to pry through the walls of blackness.

Then, a voice called out, "Fairest and fallen, greetings and defiance."

Rage. Complete and total rage erupted forth from the surrounding. It crackled in the blackness, and red sparks of anger laced through the former emptiness. Aidan had never felt such anger, such hatred directed at a particular _thing_ before. And then, light flooded through the surrounding.

He awoke to find his book laying face down on the bed, "is it heavier than before?" he though picking it up and moving it onto his desk next to the bed. "That was some dream…" he said to no one in particular, slowly sitting up and rubbing his eyes and running his hands through his hair. He yawned widely then opened the book curiously to the part marked _Dreams, Prophecies, Visions, Extra-Bodily Functions: What One Should Know._

He began to read, a relatively short chapter, finding little information on anything helpful or relatable to his strange dream. _It was too real to just be a dream, though._ Aidan thought, feeling in his gut that this dream was more than what it appeared to be. "For more information, please see local advisory wizards," it read. Directly underneath the words it read, listing two of the local advisories.

"Swale, Tom.

Carl Romeo."

Presenting Aidan with their address, phone number, zip code and so forth. _Hm… They live fairly close by, _Aidan thought setting the book down.

"Aidan, breakfast!" came the voice of his mother from the kitchen, where she was making pancakes and bacon. After glancing at the page for a moment, Aidan smiled and walked towards breakfast where the tantalizing smell of the food seemed to make everything better. _I think I'll visit them today. Later on, of course, _he thought. Greeting his parents good morning, he sat down and began to eat his meal.


	3. Logos

Part Three: Logos

After breakfast Aidan hastily walker upstairs eager to see his manual. It simply lay there, on his unkempt bed, seemingly inviting Aidan to sit down and read, for not only the knowledge he would gain, but simply for the sheer joy of reading. Visiting far off lands, vastly different universes, and alien civilizations, all part of the reason why Aidan did like to read. The difference now was that it did not have to lay in his imagination; instead, it could be a reality. He _was_ a wizard, after all.

He quickly made his bed and then began to read hungrily. _Only 10:00 now, I'll visit this Tom and Carl later, I suppose._ He thought, settling into his bed, getting comfortable around the pillows, and opening the book to where he had last left off. It seemed a bit different now than it had before, but maybe that was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

He turned the page, and gasped in shock. Instantaneously, parts of the book presented itself in what looked like a graceful form of Arabic scrawl, yet it was absolutely different, absolutely non-human. No human… anything could look this pure and beautiful. Aidan began to read the beginning of the page, which was still in English.

"The Speech is used among wizards throughout all the Universe(s), and can be understood by all Creation, both animate and inanimate. Spells, sorceries and the like are all used by the Speech, which is the language the Universe is written in. Reality itself is coded by the Speech. Wizards are able to use this speech to alter the Universe, for the good of life, and it can be transliterated into a function of writing, as seen on the next page. Wizardry is absolutely about defining, and redefining, the living Universe. This is accomplished through use of the Speech…"

As Aidan read on, he soon discovered to his shock and amazement that magic was not saying random words, often derived from Latin, and watching in wonder as something comes from nothing. Magic was more like a scientific formula. A science, period. It worked with, and above, the Physical Laws, for the most part. _Wow…_was all Aidan thought as he continued devouring the text, which became more and more interesting as he read on.

From down the hall came the padded footsteps of his dog, a cocker spaniel named Biscuit, accompanied by the sound of his clanging, dangling collar. Aidain looked down at his book where the section titled _Greetings_ was located. He quickly scanned it, and found the term for 'hello.' The small dog paced into Aidan's room nonchalantly. "Dai stiho!" Aidan said, somewhat nervously, unsure of if he had said it correctly. Yet, the words rolled off his tongue, feeling almost more natural than English ever had.

The small, white-and-brown-spotted dog stopped and looked up at Aidan, his head turned sideways with interest and shock. "You can understand me?" asked the Dog, happily. Though it spoke the Speech, and Aidan did not know it, he could still understand it now. It seemed as though he had known the language all along, just not known how to access the information.

It was Aidan's turn to be shocked, having heard the dog's response. Aidan nodded in as an answer, not sure how to say 'yes' yet in the Speech. Instantly, Biscuit ran up to his bed and began barking wildly, bouncing up and down on the floor, yelling "foodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfood!" in loud, excited barks. Aidan laughed and stood, "alright, come on!" he said in English, pointing to the door. The dog ran out crazily, barking down the hall and running down the stairs to the kitchen.

_This… is amazing! No! More than amazing! Fantastic!_ Aidan got up and walked downstairs, carrying the manual in one hand while pouring his "starved" dog some food. He watched humorously as Biscuit began to eat the food as though he had never had food before, or never had something so delicious, in his life.

Aidan looked at the clock, 11:00 AM. "Mom! I'm going for a walk, I'll be back in a bit!" Aidan yelled, putting his shoes on and waiting for his mother's response. "All right honey! Be back in a bit, if your father and I aren't home, we went to run some errands!" Aidan smiled to himself, "well, whatever keeps them occupied…"

He opened his manual to the back paged to find the address for Tom and Carl, on the last page, Aidan saw something that made him drop his manual in shock.

"Sewein, Aidan D.

2245 Allabaster Road, 13574, Manhattan, NY.

518.265.7798 (RT -/-)

Status: Active – Ordeal. No calls."

_Whoa._ _Ha! I am a wizard! Yeah!_ He stepped into the bright sunlight of the cool summer morning, smiling as a nice breeze brushed past his face. He knew exactly where Tom and Carl lived, after double checking their address. Rumors flew between the kids at the school that the people living there were insane, crazy and evil wizards. Now Aidan laughed that he would have taken part in something like that, as he walked through the shade of trees on the somewhat busy road and sidewalk.

As he walked, everything seemed a little different in some way. More real. Everything, from the trees to the concrete he stood on, seemed to exude a hum. A hum of life, as though he were now more aware of their existence. The trees rustled purposefully in the slight breeze, and every now and again he caught the whispered words of conversations between the trees. He smiled to himself, realizing just how different his life would be from now on.

The house soon came into view, and quickly he walked up its dark stone driveway. Near the edge of the yard, somewhat hidden from his view by a hedge, three kids stood closely together. Aidan looked away, slightly embarrassed to be found walking to an unfamiliar house with kids he did not know. He looked away, slowing his pace down to appear more casual. They looked familiar, but Aidan had no idea, in actuality, who they were.

POP!

Aidan looked up, startled, and saw to his shock that no one stood there anymore. He shook his head, and approached the doorway, nervously knocking on the brown door.


	4. Diastima Kenisis

Part Four: Diastima Kenisis

Aidan nervously knocked on the door, tentatively at first; almost hoping no one would answer. He hadn't thought of what he would say, or how he would present himself. _Do they even talk to new wizards?_ Aidan though as he was about to turn around and walk off the porch, possibly considering returning at a future date.

Then, from inside the house he heard a thunderous barking as a scrabble of claws scratched the wooden floor that was inside the house. "Alright, alright, settle down!" came the voice of a New York accent, gruff and to the point. The door locks were unlatched and the door came swinging open. The man who did answer seemed to dispel all of Aidan's fears of this encounter.

Smiling brightly, with a large toothy grin, the man asked, "Hello, what can I do ya' for?"

Aidan fumbled for the correct words, being caught off guard by the man's kind attitude. Finally, Aidan mumbled, "um… a certain book told me to visit you here, for… certain problems." At this, the man looked somewhat befuddled. "Alright, then! Come on in!" he responded kindly, stepping out of the way for Aidan to enter the house. The two dogs, he could see in the corner of the entrance, were now lying down with no interest in the stranger now.

Aidan stepped inside and was led to a small wooden table. "One moment. Go ahead and take a seat!" With that, Aidan sat down in a wooden chair, waiting patiently for the wizard to return.

As he passed the time, Aidan noted how nice the house was furnished, and how bright everything was. The kitchen was large and open, with typical household appliances, all stained steel or pure black. The hallway that led to the living room was covered in beige paint and paintings, elegantly done. The living room itself was large and open as well, with windows lining one side of the room, allowing in a beautiful view of the back yard and plenty of sunlight on the brown leather couches, and the new plasma screen TV.

Two people walked into the room. One, the man who brought Aidan into the house, and the other, who was shorter, with a thick moustache and a heavy Brooklyn accent. The one with the moustache sat down in a chair opposite Aidan while the other walked to the refrigerator. "Would you like anything to drink? Coke? Pepsi?" Aidan shook his head in dismissal, "oh, no thank you." With that the man closed the fridge and sat down next to the other man, opposite himself.

"Well, I believe introductions are in order." He said, settling himself into the chair. "My name is Tom Swale and-" "And I'm Carl Romeo, pleased to meet ya'!" The mustached man said sticking out a hand and shaking Aidan's vigorously, chuckling to see the look of annoyance on Tom's face from interrupting him. The conversation, mostly small talk, went on for around twenty minutes as the three exchanged pleasantries.

Then, Aidan began telling them of how he became a wizard, and everything that had transpired over the last day. The two men seemed content enough, just another typical story of a young kid obtaining their wizard-like powers. And a new wizard was always, almost, a good thing. However, as soon as Aidan mentioned his overly realistic dream, their smiles faded. Though he noticed their sudden, seemingly unexplainable change in emotion, he continued on as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

"And… now I am here, talking to you two," Aidan said, finishing his talk. Both Tom and Carl sat silently, withdrawn from the conversation leaving an uneasy silence clinging to the surrounding. Aidan looked at both the wizards, nervously, until after what seemed like hours, Carl cleared his throat and said in his rough Brooklyn accent, "I see… erm, well…" "Is something wrong?" Aidan quickly asked, it bursting out of him like a flood from a dam.

There was another lull in the conversation as an awkward silence gripped the room yet again. "Well," Tom began, seemingly out of the blue, "you say you have not yet been on ordeal yet?" Aidan nodded, adding "not that I know of… I just recently became a wizard, so I can't imagine… Is this something horrible? Something bad?" he added quickly, feeling as though a doctor was about to diagnose him with a lethal disease to which there was no cure.

Tom shook his head slowly, more to himself than to Aidan's question. "The thing is, we've never heard of someone having a dream like that before ordeal. What you speak of smells a lot like prophecy, or a vision, or some new kind of lucid dreaming. Even then, no one has been able to lucid dream until after their ordeal… I don't know anything about this, it seems. Carl, you have anything?"

He simply shook his head, dismayed. "I'd say all that we can do now is look up some more information on this and contact you as soon as possible!" He attempted to sound optimistic and cheerful, but the sudden energy added to his voice and the statement made it seem unlikely that this could be resolved so easily.

"Alright then, thank you very much!" Aidan said, somewhat confused. _What got into them? Is this dream thing really so bad? _he thought. "Oh!" Carl said grabbing his manual, "allow us to send you home! Tom, you have the spell?" Tom nodded. "The information is already in the Book." They both looked at each other, as though knowing, reading, each other's minds.

"Listen, Aidan. Stay inside, be careful. And… just don't do anything stupid. This'll take you to your house, and try not to do too much with wizardry until we have everything figured out. Okay?" Aidan nodded and gulped. _Teleported? No way! My first experience with wizardry!_ The new excitement momentarily blotted out the fear from a moment before.

The two wizards began to say the spell, opening their manuals. The words, which would transfer Aidan's mass, matter, body through spacetime to his bedroom, sounded beautiful to his ears. The Speech was obviously a common language they spoke, as the words sounded as normal, yet as different, as anything he had ever heard. A silence began to fall, far less menacing then the awkward, fear filled one just moments before, now filled the room as everything turned in to listen to the Speech and the spell, relishing in its unearthly glory. The two finished on a triumphant note.

Their smiles instantly disappeared, as their faces registered panic. Their pupils dilated rapidly. He was still there. Aidan looked around, now afraid that something had gone wrong. The last thing he heard was Carl whisper in shock, "by the Powers. Get Nita and the rest no-"

He suddenly felt the world ripped away from him as blackness now became his surroundings. In his heart, he knew something had gone terribly wrong.


End file.
